At Electrabel's power station in Rodenhuize, Belgium grinded wood chips are used as a new source of green energy. Geldof Metaalconstructie engineered, constructed and installed a complete new woodchips storage and handling installation.
Wood is stored, transported and prepared to be blown into the existing coal burnt boiler. Therefore Geldof Metaalconstructie has designed an optional tower on the present coal path, in which can be switched easily between the new grinding installation or back to the old coal conveyor.
The woodchips are put into a 2.000 m³ silo by means of 2 conveyor belts. An important aspect here is the elimination of the risk of dust explosion that goes with the handling of wood chips. Geldof Metaalconstructie has a lot of know-how in this field and all necessary measures are taken: a dedusting installation, a sprinkler installation, spark and smoke detection and humidity measurements are found throughout the whole process. Moreover, Geldof Metaalconstructie has proposed to isolate the new installation as much as possible from the existing coal grinding installation which is the most efficient solution to fully comply with the new Atex regulation.
The woodchips exit the silo divided into doses, after which they are sifted. The mass is checked on the presence of Fe and unwanted non-Ferro parts which are removed. The woodchips arrive in a distribution bunker by means of a chain conveyor feeding 4 massive hammer mills (250 kW each). The woodchips are then grinded into fine dust, and blown into the boiler of “group 4” by means of pneumatic transportation.
In order to respond to the increasing demand of “green energy”, Geldof Metaalconstructie has recently built 3 installations for processing biomass.
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